Buffalo Soldiers and chronicler defy stereotypes

February 13, 2003|By Lynn Van Matre, Tribune staff reporter.

Historian Frank "Mickey" Schubert has spent more than 30 years researching the lives and times of the Buffalo Soldiers, the name given to the units of African-American troops that served in the U.S. Army between the Civil War and World War I. Along the way, Schubert has written four books about the Buffalo Soldiers--and has raised more than a few eyebrows when his readers meet him in person for the first time.

"People always are surprised when they find out I'm not African-American," said Schubert, whose family emigrated from Hungary in 1939. "That's OK; it's fun to challenge stereotypes.

"And the Buffalo Soldiers are part of American history, not just black history," added Schubert, who will present two free programs on the troops Thursday at Aurora University as part of the school's Black History Month observances. "They have become part of contemporary American culture."

Schubert, whose latest book is "Voices of the Buffalo Soldier," became interested in the soldiers while a student at predominantly black Howard University in Washington, D.C., in the 1960s.

"I happened to take a scholarship test at Howard and ended up going there," said Schubert, who grew up in Washington and works as a historian for the U.S. government. "If you major in history at Howard, you have to take black history, and the lives of the Buffalo Soldiers were engrossing to me."

Dubbed Buffalo Soldiers by the Native Americans they often battled on the plains during America's westward expansion, these black enlisted men were paid the same as their white counterparts but often encountered racism from civilians they were trying to protect, Schubert said.

"You read stuff sometimes that gives the impression that black soldiers were exploited and used in disproportionate numbers to fight Indians. But from my research that really is not true," Schubert added. "It also isn't true that black soldiers got inferior equipment. The whole U.S. Army got junk left over from the Civil War."

According to Schubert, Buffalo Soldiers tended to stay in the Army longer than white enlisted men, largely because military life provided more stability and income security than did a civilian world where opportunities for blacks were limited.

"As they started having families, black communities grew up near the Army posts," Schubert said. "White soldiers of that period tended to be men from lower classes who used the Army as a vehicle; they weren't as committed."

Schubert said he believes awareness of the Buffalo Soldiers has increased over the last decade. Among other things, Gen. Colin Powell dedicated a statue in honor of the Buffalo Soldiers at Ft. Leavenworth, Kan., in 1992, and a made-for-TV movie about the troops, starring Danny Glover, appeared in 1997. Earlier, reggae star Bob Marley and a cappella group the Persuasions had recorded songs about the soldiers.

"African-Americans have known about them all along. They were considered to be real race heroes in the early 20th Century, when there wasn't much [for blacks] to cheer about," Schubert said. "Today, I think if you ask a lot of people who the Buffalo Soldiers were, you are going to get at least a semiknowledgeable answer."

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Frank `Mickey' Schubert

What: Will speak on the Buffalo Soldiers and sign books. Admission is free.